Aer Lingus Group (Aer Lingus) (Dublin) for the third quarter reported anย operating profit of โฌ94.9 million ($126.8 million) which is 4.4% ahead of last year.
Read the full financial report: CLICK HEREย
Read the analysis by Irish Times: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Stephen Tornblom/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Aer Lingus’ Airbus A330-302X EI-ELA (msn 1106) lifts off the runway at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Aer Lingus:ย 
Finnair (Helsinki)ย will operate its seasonal service to Toronto (Pearson), with upgraded two-class Airbus A330 wide body aircraft. Schedules will be timed to match speedy connections throughout Finnair’s network,ย particularly in the Nordic-Baltic region, Eastern Europe and Russia.ย
Aer Lingus (Dublin) has announced it will reinstate the Dublin-San Francisco route on April 2, 2014. The Irish carrier is also planning to open a new route to Toronto (Pearson) on April 21, 2014 ย in competition with Air Canada rouge.
As previously reported, Aer Lingus is adding three leased Boeing 757-200s to supplement its Airbus fleet, allowing for some expansion.
Aer Lingus issued this statement:
Aer Lingus today (July 3) announced significant expansion to its trans-Atlantic route offering for 2014. In addition to its existing services fromย Boston, Chicago (O’Hare),ย New York (JFK) and Orlando, the airline will commence year roundย direct serviceย between San Francisco and Dublin from April 2014 with 5 services per week being operated by Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft.
Aer Lingus will also commence direct year-round service from Canada from April 2014. A daily direct Boeing 757 service between Toronto (Pearson) and Dublin will operate during the summer season, with up to four weekly services operating during the winter. Two Boeing 757 aircraft will be based in Shannon and will be used to deliver increased frequency on existing services from Boston and New York. Year-round connections from the east-coast to Shannon will be introduced. This expansion will directly support more than 200 new jobs.
In addition Aer Lingus customers from sixteen cities across the U.S. (including Seattle/Tacoma, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego) will benefit from convenient connections toย Irelandย via San Francisco, as well as a number of UK and European cities via Dublin. The new San Francisco route also represents aย business opportunityย for Aer Lingus Cargo.
Further to the direct service to Ireland from Toronto, Aer Lingus will provide connections from eight Canadian cities including Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary. Once in Dublin, flights will connect to over twenty UK and European cities.
This growth plan will bring the Aer Lingus long haul schedule to 10 daily trans-Atlantic services, connectingย North Americaย with Ireland and Europe.
Copyright Photo: SM Fitzwilliams Collection/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Airbus A330-302X EI-ELA (msn 1106) prepares to depart from the Dublin hub.
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Finnair (Helsinki) is seeking to join with the British Airways-Japan Airlines joint venture to coordinate schedules and share revenue on European-Japanese flights according to this report by Bloomberg. Combining fares will be the key element of the expanded JV between the Oneworld partners. The carriers currently operate 10 routes between Europe and Japan.
Read the full story: CLICK HERE
In other news, the company issued this statement about being the most punctual international airline (a dig at SAS?) for the past two months:
Finnair has been the most punctual international airline for the past two months, according to travel data provider FlightStats. With 93.83 per cent of flights arriving or departing within 15 minutes of schedule in May and 91.14 per cent in April, Finnair is currently the worldโs most reliable international carrier according to the data services firm, which supplies the travel industry and general public with real-time global flight tracking information.
โThere are all kinds of factors out of an airlineโs control that can cause delays to passengers and loss of revenue, but these rankings highlight the degree to which dedicated employees working in well-defined processes can proactively and positively manage on-time performance,โ says Finnair Chief Operating Officerย Ville Iho. โIโm very proud of this impressive achievement, both among our own employees and those of our key partners.โ
In FlightStatsโ rankings for the year 2012, Finnair was runner-up for lowest global cancellation rate and a runner-up for most punctual European airline. Theย oneworld alliance, of which Finnair is a member, was named the alliance with the best on-time performance.
Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com.ย Airbus A330-302X OH-LTR (msn 1067) in the old 2000 livery climbs away from Narita International Airport near Tokyo bound for the Helsinki hub.
Finnair:ย
EVA Air (Taipei) today (June 18) joined the Star Alliance network, further strengthening the Allianceโs presence in Asia/Pacific. At the official joining ceremony held at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Mark Schwab, CEO Star Alliance said: โEVA Air has successfully completed all joining requirements and I can confirm that our Chief Executive Board (CEB) has now unanimously accepted EVA Air into our Alliance.โ
Founded just over 16 years ago, Star Alliance has progressively built its presence in Asia/Pacific and now has eight member carriers based in this region, which continues to show a growing demand in air travel, posting 5.2% growth in 2012. At present, 19 Star Alliance member airlines operate more than 4,000 daily flights to, from and within the Asia / Pacific region, serving 280 airports in 44 countries.
Austin Cheng, President, EVA Air said: โStar Alliance membership gives us the privilege of serving new customers from all corners of the globe and introducing our passengers to the seamless services and status recognition that the Alliance provides. As a member, we have the opportunity to introduce travellers to new ways of connecting to destinations throughout Asia via our hub in Taipei.โ
Star Alliance was founded with the mission of providing seamless global air travel for the high value international traveller. EVA Airโs customers will now have access to a global network of 28 airlines, operating more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries. In addition to bringing Kaohsiung in Taiwan and Surabaya in Indonesia as unique airports to the network, EVA Air expands the Allianceโs presence on the important Cross-Straits market, which has grown from an annual passenger volume of just over 3 million in 2009 to around 9 million in 2012. Moreover, Taiwanโs geographic location is such that it has the shortest average distance to all major cities in the Asia-Pacific region, making Taiwanโs Taoyuan International Airport an important hub in the region. In total, Star Alliance now offers 10 hubs across Asia / Pacific: Tokyo โ Narita and Haneda, Seoul โ Incheon, Beijing, Shanghai โ Pudong, Taipei โ Taoyuan, Shenzhen, Bangkok, Singapore and Auckland.
Top Copyright Photo: Star Alliance. The flight attendants (in their uniforms) of the member airlines welcome EVA Air at Taipei.
EVA Air:ย 
Bottom Copyright Photo: Yuji Wang/AirlinersGallery.com. EVA Air is a big corporate sponsor of the Hello Kitty cartoon series and brand created and owned by theย Japanese companyย Sanrio. The third Hello Kitty logojet, in the form of Airbus A330-302X B-16333 (msn 1274) prepares to land at Shanghai (Hongqiao) (please click on the photo for the full-size view).
Star Alliance Members:
Finnair‘s (Helsinki) growing hub at Helsinki (HEL) is expanding due to an ever-growing number of international connecting passengers as the airline adds more routes to Asia. The airport is located in an ideal geographical location for these connecting flights. The Finnair Blog (and video) takes us behind the scenes at HEL. HEL is a pretty nice place to connect according to Finnair.
The airline is adding Tel Aviv and Hanoi in June.
Read the full article: CLICK HERE
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems.ย Airbus A330-302X OH-LTM (msn 994) exits the runway and taxies to the gate at the HEL hub.
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Video:
Finnair (Helsinki) has announced it will join the trans-Atlantic joint venture established by American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia in October 2010.
Finnair will add its AY code to select American, British and Iberia flights between North America and Europe (EU, plus Norway and Switzerland). American (AA), British (BA) and Iberia (IB) codes on Finnair’s daily flights between New York and Helsinki.
All together, the JV will operate up to 102 daily roundtrips between North American and Europe serving 42 gateways on either side of the Atlantic.
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems.ย Airbus A330-302X OH-LTR (msn 1067) taxies to the gate at the HEL hub.
Finnair:ย 
Video:
Finnair (Helsinki) will begin flying to Xiยดan, China in the summer of 2013, further deepening the airlineโs network of Asian destinations.ย Finnairย will begin service to Xiยดan from its hub in Helsinki with three frequencies per week starting on June 14 until the close of the summer season on October 26, 2013.
Copyright Photo: Ton Jochems. Airbus A330-302X OH-LTO (msn 1013) taxies to the gate at the Helsinki hub. Finnair is pursuing an Asian long-range strategy to reinforce its growing HEL hub.
Finnair:ย 
Finnair (Helsinki) will begin flying to Hanoi in Vietnam in summer 2013, continuing the airlineโs strategic focus on traffic between Asia and Europe. Subject to regulatory approvals, Finnair will become the only European airline to offer a direct connection from Europe to the capital of Vietnam with a population of 6.5 million. Starting on June 14, 2013 Finnair will begin service to Hanoi from its hub in Helsinki with three frequencies per week.ย
The Hanoi route will be operated during the summer schedule season, which lasts until October 27, 2013.ย Finnair is represented in Vietnam by its partner East Sea Travel & Air Service Group.
Hanoi is Finnair’s 12th destination in Asia
As a center of higher education and R&D in the region, Hanoi is forecasted to have the worldโs fastest growing economy between the years 2008-2025 according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.ย
Finnair has built on its Asian strategy during the past two decades, taking advantage of the geographical position of its Helsinki hub on the shortest routes between the great cities of Asia and more than 60 European destinations. In addition to Hanoi, Finnair operates to Bangkok, Beijing, Chongqing, Delhi, Hong Kong, Nagoya, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.
Copyright Photo: Stephen Tornblom. Airbus A330-302X OH-LTT (msn 1088) lifts off the runway at JFK International Airport in New York.
Finnair:ย 
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